Trey133 wrote: Freshen up on your dg history a little back to the time when there was no other shot than the backhand and chicken wing.

I'm curious as to when that would've been. I know the forehand has been used by disc golfers since the 70s. So at what time in disc golf's history was there only backhands and chicken wings?

Never. He made a generalization based on the fact that you rarely saw anyone use anything other than the backhand off the tee in the 90's unless that person primarily used that throw. For example our new BFF Mark Ellis threw forehands off the tee back in the day, but he was/is a forehand-dominant player. Backhand-dominant guys like Climo never threw forehand off the tee.

It's different today, as you will see guys switch back and forth. The guy I remember doing that in the 90's was Stokely. Watching Stokely was like going to the circus. He threw bombs that flew forever, and he had an endless bag of tricks so you never knew what to expect when he stepped up to throw. He made other players seem boring. But he seemed to be an exception back then. I'm sure there were others like him that I didn't happen to see play.

That is all based on shots off the tee. All the great players had a bag of tricks to get out of trouble. So, yeah, there was never a "time before the forehand."

And for the record, IMO forehands have always been more common than the chicken wing.

Furthur wrote:Either get a lighter one, throw harder, or find a disc with more glide.

Working Stiff wrote:And for the record, IMO forehands have always been more common than the chicken wing.

Although I agree with everything you said, and that was what I was generalizing (early 90's DG dominated by the backhand) the Chickenwing was pretty large and in charge in my area when I began playing, probably because of our ultimate team being bored throwing just flicks and backhands, but all I saw in my college days were amazingly long chickenwings.

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Working Stiff wrote:And for the record, IMO forehands have always been more common than the chicken wing.

Although I agree with everything you said, and that was what I was generalizing (early 90's DG dominated by the backhand) the Chickenwing was pretty large and in charge in my area when I began playing, probably because of our ultimate team being bored throwing just flicks and backhands, but all I saw in my college days were amazingly long chickenwings.

Must be a regional thing. I've seriously seen two guys throw a chicken wing in my life, and neither one of them was using the throw in competition. It has always been them demonstrating the throw to somebody who asked about it.

Furthur wrote:Either get a lighter one, throw harder, or find a disc with more glide.

Working Stiff wrote: For example our new BFF Mark Ellis threw forehands off the tee back in the day, but he was/is a forehand-dominant player.

I believe Mark originally was a backhand dominant player. He transitioned to forehand after an injury.

And it just so happens when I started playing tournaments in 1988 I played with several golfers who were forehand dominant. Yes, they were in the minority but there is a contingent of former ultimate players who use the FH quite a bit off the tee.

As far as chicken wings go, there is a guy from the Baltimore area, Tom Edwards who back in the day threw Chicken wings around 340' in the air and 400' chicken wing rollers.

Mark Ellis was formerly a top notch racquetball player. He has said that the mechanics for throwing a forehand are very similar to smashing a corner killshot in racquetball. I'm not sure he ever threw backhand until after being forced to learn a passable version for upshots and putting.

roadkill wrote: And it just so happens when I started playing tournaments in 1988 I played with several golfers who were forehand dominant. Yes, they were in the minority but there is a contingent of former ultimate players who use the FH quite a bit off the tee.

There is a vid of an old Wham-O disc golf event from the late 70's floating around. I'm sure you guys remember it, it is the one with Casey Kasem doing the voice over. Anyway, there is a dude on that vid (I want to say it was Jim Kenner's old freestyle partner Ken Westerfield) throwing nothing but forehands.

Furthur wrote:Either get a lighter one, throw harder, or find a disc with more glide.